Anatomy of a bank robbery mix-up: Dauphin County provides dispatch records for Harrisburg heist

HARRISBURG- A woman who saw the Fulton Bank getting robbed Monday afternoon in downtown Harrisburg called 911 to tell police.

She told Dauphin County police dispatchers that the heist occurred on North Third Street.

When asked if it was 1429 North Third, the caller agreed. But the crime the woman had witnessed actually occurred at 200 N. Third Street.

That was the mix-up that led Capitol police officers to zero in on a man as a possible suspect, who happened to be innocent and the son of Harrisburg City Council President Wanda Williams.

Dauphin County officials provided a sequence of events to better explain how the misidentification occurred. The mishap resulted in officers being sent to Williams' house, which angered her. She also said she didn't think her son matched the description of the robber.

The sequence of events began at 12:48 p.m., when police got their first 911 call about the holdup at 200 N. Third St. The robber was described as a black man, in his early 20s, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a stocky build wearing a black or gray hooded shirt and a red bandana over his face.

Two minutes later, the bank's alarm company reported the robbery to police. One minute after that, Harrisburg police were sent to the bank. Officers arrived at 12:54 p.m.

Meanwhile, Capitol police officers who heard the call over their scanner drove to the scene, since it was across the street from the Capitol.

At 12:55 p.m., dispatchers answered another 911 call from a passerby who said she saw what looked like a bank robbery on Third Street. She described the robber as an "unknown race male, age 20 to 30, wearing a black jacket, black pants, 6 feet tall, with an average build, wearing sneakers," according to County Spokeswoman Amy Richards.

The address got erroneously recorded as having occurred at the Fulton Bank in midtown, also on North Third, but at Reilly Street.

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Anatomy of a bank robbery mix-up: Dauphin County provides dispatch records for Harrisburg heist